


Essences

by cheeseandsugar



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Side jaeno - Freeform, au - nature essences, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22780672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheeseandsugar/pseuds/cheeseandsugar
Summary: Donghyuck embodies the Sun while Mark is wildfire which can't be tamed - or so he thinks.~ an au in which humans embody essences of different features of nature
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 12
Kudos: 128





	1. Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for showing interest in this fic! It's the longest fic I've ever written and I rewrote it so many times it took me more than a year to finish it so I really hope you all like it!  
> I hope I explained everything about the essences well enough in the fic for you to understand but if you have any questions by the end be sure to comment!

Mark is having a bad day.

He’s plagued with the typical college student stresses along with sleep deprivation and—oh right—he’s burning up.

He knows it’s bad because he’s already burnt Jeno with only a high five, the books he’s holding are becoming charred under his hands, and he can see his glow.

Mark hates embodying Wildfire and he hates not being able to control it even more.

As he’s bustling through the halls, people are squirming away from him and his heat as if he’s a walking furnace.

At this point he wishes his essence was anything else calmer—Water like Jeno’s or Stone like Jaehyun’s.

People usually think his wildfire is ‘cool’ at first. Until they touch him for too long or catch him in a bad mood. Then they’d rather not be near him.

No one touches him and he doesn’t touch anyone else unless their essences are compatible. It’s the way he’s learned to live. He can only be truly comfortable around other Fire element essences like his mother, from whom he inherited his Wildfire. His father’s essence is stone, which is of the earth element, but they’re compatible because of the indestructible nature of the essence. His best friend and roommate Jeno can balance Mark out on the good days since he’s a water essence but they couldn’t be in contact for long since it would be uncomfortable for both of them.

As Mark is rushing out of the Music building, anticipating the end of this terrible day, he feels incredibly self-conscious, maneuvering around other students as best as he can, and holding his steaming breath in. People still flinch away once they’re in a meter’s radius of him, though, and it makes him feel worse every time. The severe lack of Fire essences in his school is very obvious to him now.

He bends a corner, not slowing down to look, and someone’s shoulder collides with his, throwing him off balance. A dozen expletives race through his mind as he feels himself falling, and he throws his hands—and the books—out to break his fall.

“Oh crap, I’m so sorry!” the person blurts, but Mark is already grimacing from the pain shooting through his limbs.

He doesn’t hesitate to push himself off the ground, pretending that he’s fine as embarrassment heats him up even more. A boy who looks close to his age—the person he bumped into—reaches his arms out quickly to help Mark up. Before Mark can stop him, the boy grabs his arms and hauls him up.

“Don’t— !”

The boy doesn’t flinch and finishes his movement before looking at Mark skeptically. Then he lets him go to stand on his own two feet.

“Sorry?” He bends down to gather up Mark’s books.

Mark is confused. “No, I– You weren’t– How did you–"

The boy sets all of Mark’s books into his hands and tilts his head to the side in question.

“How did I what?”

“...touch me,” Mark mutters.

The boy is radiant, Mark notices, his skin tan and glowing. His hair is auburn, catching the sunlight coming in through the windows, and his brown eyes pick up the sun as well, looking clear and warm.

The boy frowns at him. “How did I touch you?”

Mark is mesmerized by the way the boy is glowing like gold. Or rather, like the sun.

“Uh... yeah.”

Another questioning (or judgmental) look.

“I’m burning up right now,” Mark explains. “Can’t you feel it?”

The boy squints at him for a moment before stretching his arm out and resting his hand on Mark’s forehead. That’s when Mark really feels it.

This boy is born of the Fire element like him.

His heat resonates as a buzzing that’s all too familiar to Mark. Since he can’t feel heat, he knows it as a hum of energy throughout his body—a hum of energy similar to what he feels from the boy’s hand. Except where Mark’s hum is more of a frantic, urgent buzz trying to go in every direction at once, the glowing boy’s is rhythmic, calm, and a million times more powerful and focused than Mark’s.

When the boy meets his eyes, he knows the boy feels his energy too. With a tilt of his head, the stranger pulls away his palm. “You are.”

Mark can’t believe he’s found another Fire element essence. They’re very rare given their lack of compatibility and tend to keep to themselves for the same reason.

“You’re...?”

The radiant boy smiles—a pretty, warm smile. “I’m Donghyuck. My essence is—“ He holds out his hand and the sunlight streaming through the window seems to tilt towards his palm, making his skin tone gleam, “the Sun. So you can’t burn me. Nothing can. The Sun is way hotter than whatever your essence is.”

“Wildfire,” Mark offers.

Donghyuck quirks an eyebrow. “Feisty.”

Mark blinks hard. There’s a sun essence in front of him! _No wonder he felt so powerful_. Sun essences are even more scarce in the Fire element spectrum because their essence rarely passes on to their children despite being so powerful.

“So I can’t hurt you at all?” Mark asks dumbly.

Donghyuck shakes his head slowly, the way you would when speaking to a small child. “Not at all. You didn’t want to, right?” He glances at Mark’s hands. “I think you’re hurting your books, though. They’re kind of catching fire.”

Mark curses, dropping his smoking books to the floor. _Damn it_. He can’t afford to lose any more notes.

Donghyuck acts fast, unscrewing a water bottle attached to his bag and emptying it on the scorched pile of notes. They simmer out quickly.

Mark sighs and bends down to salvage his work but then remembers that he was the cause of the destruction. He settles for watching the water evaporate as his hands hover over it. Donghyuck reaches down and picks up the now crispy books instead.

“Are you okay?” Donghyuck eyes Mark as he straightens himself, a pout pulling down his lips.

“No, no, I’m not. I’m _literally_ ruining everything,” Mark mutters, frustrated with himself. His wildfire is thrashing inside of him, it’s buzzing wild and persistent. He looks at his hands and sees that his glow is now an inch wide around him. Not good.

Donghyuck grabs his wrist. “Come on, you need to get out of here. You’re clearly in distress.”

Before Mark can think for himself, Donghyuck tugs him towards the exit. There’s less people crowding the halls now since no one is eager to stick around on a Friday afternoon so they have no problems making their way through. The entire time, Donghyuck repeatedly tells Mark to take deep breaths. Mark can feel the sun’s energy through Donghyuck’s hand, a slow, calming pulse.

When they emerge into a courtyard, Donghyuck leads Mark underneath a big shady tree (one of Renjun the Foliage essence’s favourites) and sits him down on a concrete bench before letting him go and taking his energy with him.

“Close your eyes,” Donghyuck says, his voice soothing. “Continue taking deep breaths. Imagine you’re breathing out the hot air, letting all the steam out, slowly outing your fire.”

Mark listens to him, trying to do what he says. _Imagine I’m putting out the fire_.

“Clear your mind of whatever is stressing you out.” _Midterm exams, group projects, organizing the guitar club’s display for the club expo, practicing for the band..._ Mark pushes it all out of his mind and focuses on Donghyuck, this beautiful stranger who can touch him normally, who knows how to calm his fire.

He isn’t thinking about any of his problems anymore because Donghyuck is a distraction—a welcome one.

He cracks his eyes open a bit to find Donghyuck smiling at him. His breath slows at what he sees. Donghyuck already has an aura on his own that’s much bigger than Mark’s by default, but being outside seems to have magnified it. The sunlight surrounds him, bending through the spaces in the leaves above them to create a golden haze around the boy. _He’s really like the sun himself_ , Mark thinks, _absolutely radiant_.

“See, you’re already cooling down. Your glow is fading,” Donghyuck says.

Mark can feel his fire calming, curling in on itself and going to rest dormant in his gut again as it’s buzz becomes dull and faint. He looks down at himself and watches his red glow recede until he can’t see it at all. He tentatively touches a dry leaf on the edge of the bench and it doesn’t crumble into ash.

He looks at Donghyuck and the boy prompts, “Better?”

Mark tries to find his voice. “Um, yeah. Yeah, I feel...normal again. I mean, still burning, because Wildfire, but regular burning.”

Donghyuck nods in understanding.

“How do you know how to do that?” Mark asks. He’s never approached his burn ups like that. He would usually just stand under the freezing cold water of his shower until his inner fire gave up but he knows that might not be the best approach.

Donghyuck shrugs. “I’ve had a few, uh, _flares_ myself. I can cause wildfires if I get too hot, you know. So I learned how to control it.”

Mark stares at him in awe (for many reasons). “Huh. I guess I should practice that.”

Donghyuck quirks an eyebrow. “If you’re planning on being stressed a lot.”

Mark shrugs. “Not planning on it but it’s kind of inevitable at this point.”

The Sun essence tilts his head and studies Mark. “Perhaps. Are you-”

“Donghyuck! I’ve been look—“ 

A boy with small pink flowers scattered in his hair stomps up to them and stops in his tracks when his eyes land on Mark.

Donghyuck’s head snaps over to the newcomer. “Yeah?”

The flower boy flicks his gaze back to Donghyuck. “You said you would come with me to the mall today? I’ve been looking for you since my lecture finished. Are you ready to go?”

Donghyuck glances at Mark for a second before standing up. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” He backs away in the direction of the flower boy and looks Mark in the eyes as he says, “I’ll see you around, Mr. Wildfire?”

Mark’s response is slow in his daze caused by the embodiment of the sun before him. “...Uh, yeah. And my name is Mark, by the way.” But Donghyuck has already turned around to leave with the flower boy. “See you.” Mark waves lamely at the Sun’s back.

**{}~{}~{}**

When Mark gets back to his dorm room, he disturbs his roommate from studying. “Jeno! I met the Sun!”

Jeno swivels around in his desk chair to look at Mark and raises an eyebrow. “Uh...are you burning up so bad that you’re delusional?”

Mark drops his bag next to his own desk and drops into his chair in one movement. “No!” He flaps his hands to dismiss the accusation. “A sun essence! His essence is the sun!”

“Whose essence is the sun?”

“A guy named Donghyuck. I met him today,” Mark explains.

Jeno’s eyes widen in realization. “Oh, Donghyuck!” He exclaims in recognition. “Yeah, yeah, he’s a Sun essence. Calls himself ‘Fullsun’ even. You’ve never seen him before?”

“ _No_.” Mark is pretty sure he would’ve remembered if he had. He keeps count of the Fire essences on campus and he only knows two others who are both older than him.

“He’s a freshman like me,” Jeno says. “We have Music Theory One together.” He purses his lips. “Actually, I kind of know him through Jaemin. They’re usually together.”

Mark knows that Jaemin is a boy who Jeno has a crush on but since he doesn’t mingle with any freshmen besides Jeno, he doesn’t know Jaemin personally. Apparently his essence is flowers. Then it clicks.

“Oh! Jaemin is the flower boy!” Mark realizes.

A toothy smile emerges on Jeno’s face and his eyes curve upwards. “Yeah.”

“He left with Donghyuck today. They went to the mall,” Mark says, remembering the boy with pink flowers in his hair who’d come to meet Donghyuck.

Jeno scowls. “Man, I wish I could go out with him.” Suddenly he sits up straight. “Do you want to go to the mall?”

Mark frowns at him. “Dude, what?”

Jeno makes an exaggerated groan.. “I’ve been trying to talk to him outside of class for ages now but it never works out. Maybe if I bumped into him at the mall...”

“By ‘it never works out’ do you mean you chicken out every time?” A smirk tugs on Mark’s mouth.

Jeno scowls at him. “You aren’t one to talk.” The smirk is effectively wiped off of Mark’s face. “Anyway, what about Donghyuck? He’s the Sun. We been knew.”

Mark splutters, “I didn’t know!”

“He literally has a golden aura that’s, like, at least a foot wide at all times. How have you never noticed him?”

“I don’t know! We’re in different years! A lot of people have auras!”

“No, not really.”

“Oh, shut up!”

Jeno chuckles. “So, is that all you’re hyped up about? That you met a sun essence?”

_When Jeno says it, it sounds so anticlimactic_ , Mark thinks. “And that he can touch me. For more than, like, two seconds.”

Jeno doesn’t seem impressed.

“I ran into him when I was burning up today. I was even burning my books. But he picked me up. Like, he held my arms with his hands. And I can _feel_ his energy!” Mark relives the entire encounter as he tells it.

“Well, he is a Fire essence so _obviously_ you’re compatible,” Jeno points out.

Mark doesn’t appreciate his matter-of-fact tone of voice. “Sshhh—okay, I know, but after my books caught on fire and he threw water on them, he dragged me all the way outside and he _calmed_ me _down_.”

Jeno mocks him. “ _No_ ,” he says over-dramatically.

“Yes!” Mark yells, excited despite his better judgement. “He calmed me down and told me all these instructions and in no time I was back to normal! I can’t believe there’s a way to control my fire and he figured it out!” He pauses, looking at nothing in particular with his eyes wide open as his brain races.

Jeno shrugs. “Pretty believable if you ask me.”

Mark slouches, deflated.

“I mean, it makes sense, Mark,” Jeno says in a kinder tone and leans towards him. “He’s a Fire essence, you’re a Fire essence. Since he’s the Sun, he’s probably more powerful than you are and if he can control himself then he’d know how to control you too.”

Mark leans back in his chair and puts his feet up on his desk with a sigh. “Yeah, okay, I understand that, Jen. It’s just...” He wonders what it really is for a minute. “He understands me. He can touch me without being harmed or uncomfortable.”

Jeno’s expression softens. “Okay, I get it. There aren’t many Fire essences that you know outside of your family. And, Mark?”

“Yeah?”

“Why’re you blushing?” A teasing tone creeps into the younger boy’s voice.

Mark’s hands fly up to his cheeks. “What? I’m not blushing.”

“Yeah, you are,” Jeno declares. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”

Mark weighs the pros and cons of telling Jeno what he keeps thinking. The cons really outweigh the pros but Mark is a bit high off of the glowing boy.

“He’s... really beautiful,” Mark admits. “The sunlight is drawn to him, you know? His eyes are so warm and the sunlight makes them shine. And his skin is gorgeous and he has this radiant smile and the light catches on his pretty brown hair...” Mark is in a daze, demanding his memory to keep a clear image of Donghyuck in his mind’s eye.

Jeno is laughing now, in an incredulous way that makes Mark fall back to earth and glare at him as severely as he can.

“You’re so infatuated with him!” Jeno accuses loudly, amusement making his eyes dance.

Mark slouches even further down in his chair. _Is that what it is?_ “Shut up.”

“It’s never too soon to declare a crush!”

Mark groans. “I can’t afford to have crushes. He’s just...” _really beautiful_.

Jeno isn’t convinced. So naturally, the teasing ensues.

**{}~{}~{}**

Throughout the weekend, Mark’s thoughts drift to Donghyuck like it’s default. His mind runs through every possibility. Meeting him in class? No, they don’t share any classes. Seeing him on campus? He’s never even seen him before so what are the chances now? Where does he hang out a lot? What’s his major? Does he live on campus? Mark has no answers.

Why does he even have a possible crush on him? Mark chastises himself. He’s being ridiculous. He doesn’t know anything about Donghyuck except that he’s gorgeous and they’re compatible. He’s getting ahead of himself. Maybe it’s his lack of a love life making his hormones latch onto the next eligible partner.

When his mind reaches this point, he gets sad because that might actually be true. He’s never been in a relationship. He’s only had two crushes before and neither of them were compatible with him. And even if they were—say, if they were a water essence like Jeno—he couldn’t maintain contact with them for long, so holding hands and anything else was out of the question. He could only match with another Fire element or Earth element who wouldn’t be harmed, like a stone essence.

So, to sum it up, his chances were really slim and this wasn’t something he liked to think about. He locked up all those feelings and put it to the back of his mind as he hustled through the work he had to do.

A week passes and Mark has reached the point where he’s telling himself he definitely needs to forget Donghyuck.

It’s Friday evening and he’s trying to finish the last few pages of an essay that’s due at midnight. He stares at the word count on his laptop, glances at the time, lets out a long pitiful sigh.

_Why_ is he doing this? _Why_ can’t it finish itself? _This is torture_ , he thinks.

His fire sputters up.

_No._

He takes a deep breath in an effort to calm it. It pushes against him, unfurling and spreading through his middle, making his insides feel charged.

“Oh, God. Not now, not now, _please_.”

He pushes back from his desk, closes his eyes and tries to take deep breaths and think about other things.

What did Donghyuck say? Breathe out the fire?

He opens his eyes to look at his palms for a second. _Okay, not glowing yet, that’s good._

Just then the doorknob jiggles with a key and Jeno walks in, a big smile on his face.

“Dude! You wouldn’t believe—“ His eyes fall on Mark, curled up in his chair with his hands fisted and breathing hard, and his smile slides off. “Are you having a burn-up?”

Mark nods. “But it’s not that serious.”

Jeno looks at him incredulously. “What do you mean ‘it’s not that serious’? You can set things on fire!”

“Look,” Mark says, feeling his fire reach into his throat and his legs, “I’m not glowing yet.”

“ _Yet_.”

“I think I can handle it.” Mark tries to chuckle to relieve some of Jeno’s worry but it doesn’t work.

“I’m calling Donghyuck.”

Mark’s eyes pop open wide and his mouth drops. “ _What?_ ” he yells, much louder and in a higher pitch than he’d intended.

Jeno already has his phone out. “I was just walking with him and Jaemin. They passed here on the way to their dorm. They live across the street in Summer Hall. They’re not far.”

Mark splutters. “What— But you can’t make him come back here just for me. I’ll be—“

The phone is on Jeno’s ear. “Donghyuck likes to help people. Plus, he even asked about y— Hey, Donghyuck! Sorry to bother you but can you come back to my dorm for a sec? My roommate, you know Mark, he’s having another one of his burn-ups and he’d like your help.”

This is not helping said burn-up. Mark’s Wildfire has reached the surface of his skin now as his brain scrambles with the information that Jeno has befriended Donghyuck, and he lives across the street from them, and he could’ve just _asked_ Jeno about Donghyuck and he said that Mark would _like_ his help, and he asked about _what_ and _oh my god_ what has he done!

He’s definitely glowing now.

“Oh, shit, Mark, you’re glowing now! See, I told you! Are you even trying like you said?”

Mark snaps. “I was but then you had to CALL Donghyuck and tell him I’d LIKE HIS HELP and he’s the cause of, like, a quarter of my anxiety right now!”

Jeno stares at him wide-eyed. “Shit, I angered a Fire element. My mom said to never anger a Fire element. You know what? I’m gonna go wait outside. Donghyuck will be here soon. Wait, forget I said that!” Then Jeno backs out the doorway, leaving Mark to huff by himself.

Mark buries his face in his hands. _This is a disaster_. _Wait no– that’s not helping. This is fine. It’s gonna be fine. Fine, fine, fine._

The door opens and there stands Donghyuck, glowing dully at night, eyes scanning Mark.

He flashes the smallest smile and steps towards Mark. “Hey, so how bad is it?”

Mark just knows he looks like shit. This is definitely not ideal.

“I’m glowing, so, pretty bad. The buzzing is everywhere too, but I haven’t started melting the chair yet or singeing my clothes so I’d say it’s not as bad as last time yet,” Mark replies, his thoughts a jumble in his head and his fire fighting for control.

Donghyuck reaches Mark and holds his hands out, quirking his eyebrows in question to Mark. Mark figures out that he’s asking permission to touch him and finds it ironic how the first time they met there were no such boundaries. The idea of people touching him is still foreign to him, though, so it takes a second for him to nod yes, remembering that they’re of the same element.

As soon as Donghyuck’s hands encircle his wrists, Mark feels the powerful pulse of the sun’s heat energy which is so much more calm and refined than his own.

“Do you remember what I told you last time?” Donghyuck asks, trying to catch his gaze.

Mark’s social meter can only do so much in one day so he avoids Donghyuck’s eyes even though he’d love to stare at the golden specks in them. “Yes. I tried the breathing and everything.” There’s so much going on in his brain. He tries to ignore the way his heart is beating in his ears at the attention Donghyuck is giving him.

“Okay, close your eyes,” the Sun says. “You need to clear your mind or think about something that makes you happy.”

Mark tries his best despite everything that’s going on (and his growing adoration for the boy in front of him).

“You’re still frowning, your mind isn’t clear,” Donghyuck says.

Mark tries to relax his face muscles.

“Forget everything that’s bothering you. Go to your happy place. Breathe out the fire.”

_Okay, okay_. Mark takes deep breaths again, paying attention to Donghyuck’s voice as he repeats _breathe out the fire._ He also notices that the hum of Donghyuck’s energy against his wrist is somehow taming his own fiery buzz, as if speaking to it.

Apparently that’s all he needs because he feels his muscles relaxing, the thrashing vibration of the heat in his chest slowing.

“There you go,” Donghyuck says, “I can feel it calming.”

Mark opens his eyes. His fire retreats, it’s hum quietens and it concentrates in his gut again. Donghyuck lets go of him.

_Gosh, Donghyuck is beautiful_. He’s wearing a yellow shirt today which complements his skin tone and black ripped jeans that Mark would rather not verbalize his thoughts about. His hair is parted a bit, leaving more of his forehead exposed, and he has on dangling gold earrings. _So pretty._

Naturally, he forgets to reply as his brain focuses on Donghyuck.

Donghyuck smiles at him. “Mark.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay now?”

“Oh.” Mark suddenly remembers where he is and what they’ve been doing. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You really... worked your magic.” He chuckles drily as he cringes at himself. That wasn’t cool.

Donghyuck chuckles back, though, so maybe he isn’t a total failure.

Donghyuck leans against his desk. “What caused it this time?”

Mark glances at his laptop behind Donghyuck. “I’ve got an assignment due in five hours and it’s not looking good.”

Donghyuck follows his gaze and turns around to look at the monitor. “Yikes. For what course?”

“Music history. One of the worst courses I’ve ever taken. The lecturer is so boring.”

Donghyuck pouts sympathetically and Mark thinks it’s the cutest thing he has ever seen and the world must stop to witness it. “My shitty course this semester is Music Theory One. Which I have with Jeno and Jaemin and we all just sit down there clueless, talking or on our phones. It’s a waste of time really.”

“Oh, yeah, I know.” Mark likes how easily this conversation is going. “I did Music Theory One last year and I was terrible at it.”

“Oh, really? What do you major in?”

“Music composition.”

“Are you serious?” Donghyuck’s eyes light up. “That’s so cool, I have respect for all music composition students.”

Mark is flattered and feeling validated. He smiles. “Why?”

“Because writing music is so hard. I can’t write more than a verse of a song.”

“You’ve written songs?”

“I’ve written _verses_.”

Mark chuckles. “Right.”

“I’m more inclined to one instrument that’s relatively easy to learn. My voice.”

Mark’s eyebrows pop up. “You sing?”

“I sure hope so, considering I major in vocal performance.” Donghyuck smirks.

Mark’s heart flutters. “Well, I think that’s even cooler than music composition.” _And kinda hot_ (attraction-wise, not temperature-wise, thank goodness).

Donghyuck shrugs. “Right now I’m just doing a bunch of introduction theory courses with not a lot of actual vocal training so it’s not that exciting.”

“That’s how freshman year is for everyone,” Mark sympathizes. “Boring introduction courses. Soon you’ll be doing more interesting stuff that you like.”

“Oh, like sophomore year music history? With essays due at midnight on Friday?”

Mark cracks up, laughing at Donghyuck’s quick wit. “Yes, exactly the interesting stuff you’d like,” he jokes. “But maybe you’ll get out of it. Music composition has a lot of technicalities and, well, a lot more boring theory classes than I think vocal performance does so I’m stuck with this for a while.”

Donghyuck hums. “We’ll see. At least I know to prepare myself just in case. Wouldn’t want to be flaring as often as you.”

Mark flushes and looks away, embarrassed. “Yeah. College has it’s rough patches. And unluckily for Fire elements, we have our mental breakdowns outwardly so... good luck.”

Donghyuck shoves Mark lightly and his energy pulses through Mark momentarily. “Such inspiring words.” He starts towards the door and Mark almost sulks at the sun walking away. “You’ve got to get back to work so I’m gonna go. Good luck to _you_ and remember what I said to calm yourself, or you know, try to stop burning up,” Donghyuck says, smiling sweetly at Mark.

Mark thinks he’s being teased but he can’t stop himself from smiling back. “Yeah, okay, thanks. Bye.”

Donghyuck waves and walks out of sight only to be replaced by Jeno coming in.

“You okay now, bro? Donghyuck was in here kinda long.”

The smile lingers on Mark’s face as he turns back to his laptop. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Mark wonders if he’s going to have to keep getting burn-ups to see Donghyuck but then he mentally slaps himself. That’d be really stupid.

**{}~{}~{}**

There’s shaking.

“Mark. Hey, Mark, wake up.”

Mark’s consciousness pulls itself out of sleep and he opens his eyes slowly to find Jeno standing over him, hand shaking him.

He groans. His body doesn’t want to get up. “What?” He tries to remember what day it is. Sunday. Why is he being woken up? He’s not supposed to wake up before noon on the weekends. He registers all the sunlight coming through the window. Okay, maybe it is noon.

“Do you wanna come get lunch with me, Jaemin and Donghyuck?” Jeno asks. He doesn’t look ready for anything, still in his pajamas and glasses.

“Lunch? Donghyuck?” Mark rubs the sleep out of his eyes. “What time is it?”

“Eleven thirty,” Jeno responds. “Jaemin just texted me all of a sudden asking if I wanted to go to lunch with him and at first I thought it was a date and my heart stopped but then I saw the ‘and Donghyuck.’ But I still have hope because he’s been talking to me a lot more over the past week.” Jeno grins, eyes sparkling with the mention of his crush.

“So what am I? Your plus one?” Mark grumbles. He did not wake up to be a plus one.

Jeno scowls at him. “No, dumbass, he asked for you too afterwards. Which I personally think is even weirder. Maybe it’s so Donghyuck wouldn’t be a third-wheel.”

Mark bites back, “There’s no two-wheeler to third-wheel.”

Jeno glares at him. “Alright, I was giving you a chance to be with your crush but since you wanna be that way I’ll just tell them that you’re still sleeping... or you’re sick with diarrhea, which is totally attractive.” He quirks a sly eyebrow at Mark and the latter sits up to punch him in the shoulder.

“Hey, you punk, I’m coming. Tell them I’m coming.”

Jeno concedes. “Get ready, he said they’ll meet us downstairs in, like, an hour.” Then he heads to the bathroom they share with the boys in the dorm room next door, Renjun and Dejun.

Mark only then realizes that he’s going on a sort-of unofficial double date with his crush. Here come the butterflies— or the fire sputters, which is what it actually feels like.

Since Jeno has beat him to the bathroom, he takes a few more minutes to lay in bed and go through his phone before he gets up to find a decent outfit since he’s not very good at that. He ends up settling with his most stylish hoodie (although warm clothes are purely a stylistic choice for Fire elements since they are their own source of heat) and his newest jeans and his cleanest shoes. He doesn’t have much impressive clothes because he doesn’t usually have people to impress.

In fifty-five minutes, he and Jeno are ready and they head downstairs to meet the subjects of their affection.

They have to wait on the curb for a couple of minutes before Jaemin and Donghyuck emerge from the building opposite them.

Donghyuck’s glow merges with all the noon sunlight and his skin tone looks warm and golden. His brown hair shuffles in the wind and he’s quick to brush it out of his eyes, effectively taking Mark’s breath away. He’s in an oversized orange and black sweater, the front tucked into his jeans—the ripped ones he wore the last time Mark saw him— and sneakers, looking totally out of Mark’s league.

Jaemin walks beside him, telling him something, with white flowers in his hair today to match the white shirt he’s wearing along with light blue denim jeans and a white flower bracelet, but Mark barely notices; that’s more of Jeno’s focus.

They spot Mark and Jeno and smile and wave before crossing the street to meet them.

“Hey, guys!” Jaemin greets them and Donghyuck is soon to follow his lead.

Mark fights the urge to look away in shyness and tries to greet them back as not-lovestruck as possible.

“I was thinking we could go to the Waffle House on campus? I haven’t had breakfast,” Jaemin says.

Jeno doesn’t consult Mark before blurting, “Yeah, that sounds great! We haven’t eaten either.”

Mark thinks it’s a good thing he likes waffles.

They set off on the short walk to the Waffle House, none of them really starting a conversation. When they get there, they snag a booth and Jeno rushes in to sit next to Jaemin before Donghyuck can.

As a result, Mark ends up sitting next to Donghyuck and pretending that he’s not nervous about it.

They order quickly since they’re all familiar with the place and soon Jaemin and Jeno have seemingly forgotten that the other two are there because they begin talking about types of flora and they hit it off together.

The two Fire elements sit in silence as Mark wonders how awkward this is. He can’t seem to think of something they can talk about so he gets lost in his own thoughts.

_They would be perfect for each other_ , Mark thinks as he watches Jaemin smile sweetly at Jeno. _His water sustaining his flowers. That’s cute. Would Donghyuck–_

“Haven’t had any more burn-ups, I hope?” Donghyuck’s actual voice breaks through Mark’s thoughts.

Mark turns toward him, unreasonably surprised that the other has chosen to speak to him.

“Yeah– uh– I mean, no. I haven’t,” Mark stumbles over his words, mouth ahead of his brain.

Donghyuck’s eyes flick over his features and Mark figures he must know how nervous he is. The Sun essence smiles. “You don’t seem sure.”

Mark chuckles shortly. “I’m sure, my brain just doesn’t work as fast as it should sometimes.” _Why did I just insult myself?_ He tries to brush it off. “Weekends are easier. I sleep more and don’t have any classes.”

Donghyuck nods. “Makes sense. Is school the only thing that’s stressing you out?”

Mark thinks. “Mostly... I’ve also got my band and I’m organizing a display booth for the club expo. I’m the secretary for the guitar club.”

Donghyuck’s eyebrows perk up. Is he impressed? “You play guitar in your band?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“What’s it called?”

“Neo City,” Mark responds. “It basically means ‘New City.’ It wasn’t my idea.”

“It sounds cool,” Donghyuck comments. “Much better than a lot of band names I’ve heard.”

Mark smiles. “Thanks. We’re performing at the club expo actually and we haven’t decided on a set list yet.”

“When is it?”

“In two weeks.”

The waiter arrives with their food and places it in front of them. Coincidentally, Mark and Donghyuck have ordered the same thing: chicken and waffles. Jeno’s gotten a pile of chocolate chip waffles and Jaemin has a set of regular ones with lots of whipped cream and honey.

All of the boys are hungry so they dig in immediately.

When the first bout of their hunger is satisfied, the conversation starts up again.

“So you’ve got to get the guitar club display and your band ready for the expo in two weeks,” Donghyuck concludes.

“Yeah,” Mark mumbles. “I haven’t even thought about the display yet, honestly, I’m waiting for my midterms to finish next week.”

“Sounds like you need some help,” Donghyuck says. He takes a bite of a waffle as if waiting for something, but Mark takes too long to consider what he’s said.

“Well, I usually manage everything on my own.”

“And how’s that working out for you?” Donghyuck asks, sending a pointed look his way.

Mark just looks at him and his brain goes into overdrive. What does Donghyuck mean by that? Oh, his burn-ups.

Mark scratches the back of his head. “Uh, not too great I guess.”

“You’re doing so many things, how do you even sleep?”

Mark presses his lips together. “I don’t, really.”

Donghyuck gapes at him incredulously.

“Maybe, like, three to five hours a night,” Mark admits.

“No wonder you keep having burn-ups! You’re actually just burning _yourself_ out.” Donghyuck shakes his head in disbelief. “Do you want help? I can help you with something. The club display, maybe?”

Mark didn’t expect that. “You’d help me?” Donghyuck—radiant, out-of-his-league Donghyuck—wants to help him after speaking to him a total of three times including now?

“Sure, why not?” Donghyuck smiles softly at him.

Mark thinks he’s dreaming.

“Jeno doesn’t even help me,” Mark blurts.

Jeno snaps towards them at the sound of his name. “I offer to help you all the time but you never let me!”

Mark looks to him. “Yeah, but you never actually want to.”

Jeno shrugs. “It’s the thought that counts.”

Mark nods complacently. “Sure.”

“So will you let me help you?” Donghyuck nudges Mark.

There’s no debate in Mark’s mind. “Yeah, if you really want to.” He can’t help but smile at Donghyuck and his fire tickles at his stomach in his version of butterflies.

Donghyuck smiles back and the sunlight hitting their table from the windows seems to get brighter.


	2. Noon

Mark and Donghyuck exchanged numbers and agreed to meet Monday evening at a nearby café to plan the display for the Guitar Club.

Mark decides to go right after his lecture at 5pm to study even though Donghyuck is supposed to have class for another hour. He orders a latte, finds a cozy seat near to the back with a view of the front of the café so he can see when Donghyuck arrives and sets up his laptop and notebook.

After he replies to a couple of texts and takes an uneventful scroll through Twitter, he gets to work and soon his studious side takes over. His level two music theory mid-term exam is on Wednesday and he has no time to waste.

Except with Donghyuck, of course.

The sunny boy arrives a bit after six o’clock. He spots Mark as soon as he walks in and waves. Noticing that Mark is already settled, he goes to order something before sitting with him.

“Hey,” he smiles at Mark as he drops into the chair opposite him. “How long have you been here?”

Mark smiles back and suddenly becomes self conscious in the presence of his crush, wondering if his glasses make him look super nerdy. “Uh, an hour, maybe. I came right after my lecture.”

“Oh, you should’ve told me, I would’ve left my class early. It was kind of boring anyway,” Donghyuck says with a light chuckle.

Mark shakes his head. “No, it’s fine, I had to study.” He adds with a laugh, “And freshmen shouldn’t be skipping classes already.”

Donghyuck presses his lips together guiltily. “I think it’s too late for that.” He glances at Mark’s notebook. “I think you’re too studious to hang out with me,” he says jokingly.

Mark doesn’t catch that it’s a joke. He shuts his notebook bashfully. “What do you mean?”

Donghyuck laughs. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Actually, I think I need you to rub off on me. Maybe you can help me study sometime.” Mark doesn’t decode the hope in his eyes. “When you’re not so busy.”

Mark feels relieved and flattered. _I’m not totally messing this up._ “Yeah, sure. Anytime.” He finds himself smiling. _Does this mean that we’re friends now?_

Donghyuck’s order alert buzzes and he excuses himself to go collect his items. Mark’s eyes follow him as he goes.

The sun has mostly set already but Donghyuck still has a golden aura, though it’s a bit dull. It’s almost a foot wide. _That must be his normal energy level on his own_ , Mark thinks. He remembers the day before at noon when Donghyuck’s aura was so wide he couldn’t discern the end of it while they were outside. It makes sense that his energy rises and sets with the sun. It shows how powerful Donghyuck is.

Mark doesn’t glow regularly and if his glow was ever an inch thick it would mean he was going through a disastrous burn-up. But Donghyuck’s aura is inches thick on its own, unprovoked. _Wow._

Donghyuck comes back quickly with a brownie and a chocolate drink with lots of whipped cream. _So he likes chocolate_ , Mark notes.

“Did you want something else?” he asks Mark. “Your coffee is done.” He gestures at Mark’s empty cup.

Mark shakes his head. “I’m fine, thanks.”

Donghyuck takes a bite of his brownie. “So what do you need me to do?”

Mark remembers why they’re there. Right, the guitar club display for the expo. “You’re not even in the guitar club, are you sure you want to help me?” Mark eyes Donghyuck.

“Are your club members going to help you?” Donghyuck looks at him over his cup.

Mark pauses. “Well... I haven’t asked them but–“

“See? I’ll help you, don’t worry about it. And I think I’ll join the club anyway. I’ve been meaning to join at least one club but I’ve been too lazy.” He smiles—literally beams—at Mark. “So consider me a member!”

Mark’s eyebrows pop up. “Really?”

Donghyuck nods. “Really.”

Mark smiles, happy that Donghyuck is considering something because of him. “Okay, so here’s what we need...” Mark pulls up the notes app on his phone. “A sign, for starters.”

**{}~{}~{}**

On Thursday when Mark is relieved of the stress of his exam, Donghyuck meets him at his dorm to work on a banner for the display.

“Mark Lee!” Donghyuck greets when Mark lets him in.

Mark chuckles at the Canadian accent Donghyuck is attempting. “Donghyuck Lee!”

Donghyuck laughs too. He has some art supplies in his arms and goes to dump them on Mark’s desk. “Assistant Donghyuck at your service.”

Mark is glad that they’re comfortable with each other already, over with the awkwardness. He’s also glad that he somehow makes Donghyuck laugh and smile and that seems to have become his life’s goal.

Mark sits on Jeno’s chair and lets Donghyuck sit on his. “Jeno told me that you did art in high school so no pressure but this all rides on you because I’m terrible at these types of things.”

Donghyuck scoffs and unrolls a large sheet of construction paper. “I actually had a feeling. See, I don’t know what you’d do without me right now. I’m hard-carrying this whole project.”

Mark admires Donghyuck while he organizes his things. He’s dressed comfortably today, in black sweatpants and a loose white jersey that flashes his collarbones. His hair isn’t styled, flopping down into his eyes. He flicks it back and turns to look at Mark, snapping him out of a trance.

“Yeah, I can’t deny that,” Mark says quickly.

Donghyuck shakes his head. “You’re so shameless.”

Mark shrugs. “You volunteered–“

“Yeah, yeah, Markie, just be quiet and I’ll tell you what to do.”

Mark is too shocked to stop himself from blurting, “ _Markie_?” His heart sputters.

Donghyuck’s eyes widen as if he’s been caught. “I–uh–“

Mark can’t help but laugh. “I let you get away without using honorifics but _this_ is new.”

Donghyuck looks away before Mark can see his blush. “Okay, sorry, I won’t call you that.”

“No, no,” Mark scrambles. “You can call me that. You can call me whatever you want.” He wonders if that was too much.

Donghyuck blinks at him in silence for a moment before grinning. “Okay, Markie.”

Truthfully, Mark doesn’t like the new nickname. But he likes Donghyuck.

Donghyuck picks up a pencil and returns to his task. He starts outlining something.

“Have you caught up on sleep since your exams?” he asks Mark.

“Uh, I slept late today, does that count?”

Donghyuck sighs. “I told you that you need to work on your sleep schedule to help with your burn-ups.”

Mark hums. “But I haven’t had a regular sleep schedule since high school.”

Donghyuck shoots him a glare. “You’re as stubborn as your fire. You haven’t had any burn-ups since the last time I was with you, right?”

“Nope.”

“Good.”

Suddenly, Donghyuck turns to Mark. “Can you paint?”

Mark takes a moment to think before he shrugs. “As much as seventh grade Art class taught me.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “Why’d I even ask?” He gestures at Mark. “Come over here.”

Mark pushes his chair over to the desk next to Donghyuck. The closer he gets to the sun essence, the more conscious he is of their movements.

“You can use a marker, right? I’m assuming you can use a marker otherwise you can just leave,” Donghyuck looks at Mark pointedly.

A laugh bubbles up Mark’s throat. “Yeah, yeah, I can.”

Donghyuck pushes the board towards Mark and rattles off some instructions: trace this, then cut that. Mark listens attentively then moves to Jeno’s desk to do as he’s told. He focuses all his energy on doing everything neatly and exactly how Donghyuck wants it because, simply, he wants to impress the younger boy as much as he can.

A few minutes later, Donghyuck starts to play music aloud. “Do you mind?” he asks.

Mark could never. “No, it’s fine.”

As the songs play, Mark tries to figure out the boy’s music taste and he ends up with a mix of pop, ballads, hip hop, funk, and a hell of a lot of Micheal Jackson.

He’s tempted to rap a few times to the songs he’s familiar with but he’s not confident at showing off his skills in front of the glowing boy so he settles for bopping his head to some of the songs. Donghyuck, on the other hand, has confidence radiating from him like his light. So, he starts singing by the third Michael Jackson song.

When his voice first fills the room, Mark’s body freezes. The line he was tracing with a marker ends up with a fat black dot in the middle of it where his hand stopped moving. He drops the marker, cursing under his breath, and glances over at Donghyuck to see him grooving to the beat as he sings his heart out.

Mark can’t believe what he’s hearing. Donghyuck’s voice is _beautiful_. Mark can’t understand how amazing this one boy is. He gapes shamelessly, eyes tracking Donghyuck’s every movement.

Donghyuck’s love for singing shows. He throws all his attitude into the Michael Jackson song with his voice and he has so much character and charisma that Mark gets completely dumbfounded, almost forgetting what he has to do.

When the song finishes and another one follows, Mark forces himself to refocus on his work before he ends up doing nothing besides admire Donghyuck. He shakes his head, trying to come to terms with how talented Donghyuck is, and runs his hands through his hair as he wills himself to look away before he says something stupid.

His heart flutters. He definitely has a crush on Donghyuck now.

A couple of hours later, the banner is complete and the boys are hungry.

“Do you wanna go get dinner?” Donghyuck asks Mark.

Mark’s heart skips a beat. _Really?_ “Uh, yeah. What do you want?”

“I’m kind of broke,” Donghyuck admits, “so nothing expensive.”

Mark can work with that since he’s kind of broke too. College isn’t friendly to bank accounts. “Wanna just get ramen from the convenience store?”

Donghyuck nods. “Yeah, lets do that.”

They walk together to the convenience store on campus and decide to eat in the seating area outside.

As they dig in, Mark asks a question that’s been on his mind. “What are your burn-ups like?”

Donghyuck pauses his eating. “Sun flares. Quite literally,” he says. “It’s really sudden at first, and then if I can’t get it under control it just continues in pulses, evaporating and dehydrating anything that contains liquid in, like, at least a five meter radius. Depends on how upset I am, though.” He resumes slurping up his ramen.

Mark’s naturally wide eyes get even wider with his intrigue. “How often does that happen?”

“Hasn’t happened in about a year. I’m good at understanding my emotions now so when I’m getting too overwhelmed or angry, I calm down before it happens. And, luckily, no one has been able to frustrate me to that point in a long time.” He looks up to flash a cheeky smile at Mark. “It’s all about inner peace,” he says in an overly peppy voice. He wipes his smile off and regulates his voice. “No, but– seriously, it kind of is.”

Mark marvels at how Donghyuck, who is arguably more powerful than he is, is able to manage his essence. And Donghyuck isn’t a monotonous person either. When he feels something, he says it, and everything he does is passionate once he cares.

“I used to be a huge brat,” Donghyuck continues, swallowing. Mark watches him as he gulps down his own food.

Donghyuck puts down his chopsticks. “Puberty? With all those fluctuating hormones? The worst time. I’d flare every other week. The furniture in my house was charred all the time, all the plants were dead. My mom didn’t let me in the kitchen around all the food unless she was sure I was stable.” He looks down into his bowl. “One time I hurt Jaemin. He had to drink about a gallon of water after and he had dry spots on his skin for at least a week. It was like he got sun burnt in an instant. That’s when I decided I couldn’t just let these flares happen anymore. From then on I tried to be aware of my emotions, learn the signs. It took a while before I completely mastered it.”

Mark finds an odd comfort in their similarities; in the way they can both be powerful yet destructive and they both hate it. He finds hope. If Donghyuck can control it, maybe he can too. He doesn’t have to keep hurting people.

“I hurt Jeno once too,” Mark says. “He can usually counter my effects but... I was too hot that time and I burnt him. That was one of my worst ones, in senior year of high school. That was a really stressful time for me, like now.” He begins unconsciously rubbing his palms, where his heat usually concentrates. “The one I was having when we met was really bad. Singeing books? Yeah, that happens any time I’m nervous. Which is a lot,” he chuckles drily. “But never actually setting them on fire. Never walking down the hall and having people literally flinch away from me.” Mark’s eyes lose focus as he remembers his recent burn-up that led him to meet Donghyuck.

A beat of silence passes.

“That must be hard,” Donghyuck says. “I’m warm but in a comfortable, cozy way. People can still touch me normally. I mean, besides ice essences, they’re just annoying,” he chuckles, trying to lighten the mood. “But you were so spooked that first time I touched you. I’m guessing that doesn’t happen at all?”

Mark shakes his head. “Not for more than a second. I don’t _let_ anyone touch me besides my parents. I’m not safe for other people.”

Mark doesn’t look at Donghyuck, trying to hide any hurt that might show in his eyes. He usually tries not to think about it for his own well-being. He focuses on finishing off his ramen soup.

“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” Donghyuck mutters.

Mark clears his throat and shrugs, still avoiding Donghyuck’s eyes. “I wouldn’t want you to.”

Donghyuck nudges Mark’s leg with his foot. “Aren’t you glad you met me, then?” His tone of voice turns playful. When Mark looks at him, he’s got a teasing grin on his face. “I’ll teach you how to control your burn-ups, and you don’t have to worry about burning me.”

That flusters Mark instantly, and he knows his temperature rises in response. Donghyuck doesn’t notice because their skin isn’t touching.

_Stupid wildfire_.

“So, hypothetically,” Mark starts, “If I get flustered and my temperature rises, would that signal a burn-up?”

Donghyuck licks his lips as he finishes his meal, runs a hand through his hair and then shakes out the front of it for the strands to fall back into place. Mark’s temperature rises some more.

“Depends on how serious it is,” Donghyuck says. “If you’re, like, doing a presentation and everyone is laughing at you then, yeah, probably. If it’s just, like, everyday stuff like you’re paying at a cashier and you say something stupid, then it’s not likely once you get yourself out of the situation and relax.”

Mark doesn’t know why he says what he says next. He’s blaming it on fatigue. “What if it’s...a crush. My crush that makes me flustered.”

Donghyuck’s eyebrows pop up. “Your crush?”

Mark gulps. “Y-Yeah.”

Donghyuck looks him dead in his eyes, expression not wavering. “I’d still say it depends.” A pause. “On their effect on you.”

Mark is at a loss for words. Donghyuck’s eyes are dark in the night and even his hair colour looks a darker brown, as if he’s set with the sun. His ever-present aura is a subtle orange light that’s making his skin gleam.

Donghyuck releases him from his gaze, eyes flitting around instead. “For one thing, I hope you’re compatible with them. But if they make you spontaneously burn up every time you see them then—“ he chuckles drily, “—good luck with that. I don’t think that’d really work out for either of you.”

“But what if...” _he doesn’t feel my fire. He can stop my burn-ups._

Donghyuck pops open a can of Coke. “What if what?”

“Nothing,” Mark answers, sullen.

Donghyuck didn’t have much of a reaction to his revelation of having a crush. Mark chides himself. Did he expect a reaction? Why would Donghyuck like him back anyway?

**{}~{}~{}**

On Saturday night, Mark and Jeno are hanging out in their room, Mark trying to read a textbook for one of his classes and Jeno playing a video game.

Mark is having trouble focusing, mouthing lyrics to the songs he’s listening to instead. He notices when Jeno stops abruptly and picks up his phone to text.

Jeno gasps. “I think I have a date with Jaemin tomorrow night!”

Mark welcomes the distraction. “Haven’t you been going on dates this whole week? Ever since Sunday you’ve been inseparable.”

Jeno grins. “We were just studying for midterms together but he asked me to _dinner_ tomorrow.”

Mark smiles back, happy for his best friend. “Guess you’re pretty much official now.”

Jeno’s eyes widen then he pulls back. “Don’t get my hopes up like that. It’s just our first kind-of-official date. I think.”

“You’re already a couple in my head anyway,” Mark says. “You go so well together.”

He sees Jeno get excited. “You think so? I mean, _I_ think so because I really like him but thank you for confirming that I’m not delusional.”

Mark laughs. “If you were delusional I would remind you everyday.”

“Like the way you nag me to put away my shoes everyday.” Jeno scowls at him.

Mark scoffs and nods. “Yes, exactly like that.”

Jeno types something on his phone before saying, “I think you and Donghyuck suit each other well.”

Mark almost chokes on his spit. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Jeno chastises. “Anyone can see the chemistry between you two. _And_ you’re compatible. The _most_ compatible.”

Mark chuckles awkwardly. “You think we have chemistry?”

“Tons,” Jeno answers immediately.

Mark scratches his head, looking down. “But I don’t think he likes me that way.”

“Are you kidding? I’m ninety-nine percent sure he has a crush on you.”

Mark looks up and frowns. “Really?”

“Really, really. He just pretends to be cool all the time and believes in tough love,” Jeno explains. “He’s much softer than he lets on.”

Mark still finds that hard to believe.

“Haven’t you spent all week with him too?” Jeno asks. “Planning the guitar club display. What do you think he’s doing that for?”

Mark can’t think fast enough.

“He wants to spend time with you because he _likes_ you, dummy. Hyuck’s a nice person but he’s not _that_ generous.” Jeno nods decisively. “He definitely likes you. You should ask him out.”

That’s a tough pill to swallow. “Ask him out?”

“ _Yes._ ”

Mark purses his lips. “Yeah, no, I don’t think I can do that.”

“Why not?”

“... Because I’ve never done it before.”

“And you’ve never liked someone you’re compatible with. There’s a first time for everything!”

“Why’re you giving me advice? You’ve never asked out Jaemin, you’ve been waiting for him to make the first move this whole time!” Mark scowls.

Jeno gets defensive, “That’s because I didn’t—slash don’t—know if he likes me back!”

“I don’t know if Donghyuck likes me back either!”

“I’m telling you he does!”

“Oh, what do you know?” Mark folds his arms. “I’m not willing to risk it.”

“Oh, come _on._ Do you want me to do it for you?”

“No! Are you crazy?” Mark shouts.

“Then use that wildfire of yours and do it like how you use it when you perform!”

Mark pauses, scratches his chin. “Hold on, that’s not a bad idea.” He thinks. “Can I invite him to band practice tomorrow?”

Jeno frowns, then relents. “I guess.” He pins a stern look on Mark. “But that doesn’t count as ‘asking him out’, got it?”

Mark shrugs. “Whatever.” In his mind he thinks, _we’ll see about that_.

**{}~{}~{}**

After lunch the next day, Mark and Jeno pick up Donghyuck on their way to their weekly band practice. Donghyuck was eager to come, replying to Mark quickly.

“So my cousin, Jaehyun, formed the band when we were in high school and, as it turns out, all of us ended up going to the same university. There’s five of us,” Mark informs Donghyuck as he leads him into his cousin’s apartment building which is a five minute walk from campus. Jeno lags behind, lost in his own thoughts. “Me, I play guitar, as you know. Jeno’s on bass. Jaehyun, who lives here by the way, is our vocalist and he’s a senior. There’s another guy who’s my age. His name is Lucas. He plays the drums. And Jungwoo’s a junior. He’s kind of shy at first but loosens up the longer you know him. He plays the keyboard.”

Donghyuck nods and snaps his fingers. “Okay, got it.”

They climb a couple of flights of stairs before Mark comes to a stop in front of a plain grey door with the number 14 on it. He bangs on it with his fist. “Jaehyun-Hyung!”

They hear a muffled “Coming!” from behind the door and a second later it rattles and swings open. A tall boy with wavy brown hair, big eyes and a smile to match stands in the doorway. “‘Sup, guys!”

“Oh, hey, Lucas,” Mark greets the boy.

Lucas moves out of the way to let the three boys in and as they pass, his eyes latch onto Donghyuck. “I don’t know you,” he says in a tone that sounds like he’s doubting himself.

They enter straight into the living room where the other band mates are milling around. There’s a television mounted on the wall to the right between two doors with a coffee table beneath it that seems to be home to all kinds of video games and consoles. On the couch facing it there are two boys talking.

The back half of the room is occupied by the band equipment: a drum set, keyboard, guitars, mic stands, an amplifier and various cords.

The remaining boys all look up at the mention of a newcomer. Mark doesn’t miss a beat.

“Guys, this is Donghyuck,” he introduces. “A new friend of ours. Donghyuck, this is Lucas, Jaehyun and Jungwoo.” He gestures at each of the boys in the order he says their names. The boy lounging on the couch seems to be Jaehyun, the oldest, and Jungwoo who has fluffy golden hair is propped on the arm of the couch.

Donghyuck flashes his pretty smile at all of them. “Hey.” They repeat it back to him, returning his friendly smile.

“He’s glowing,” Jaehyun says, sitting up.

“He’s a sun essence,” Mark states.

Jungwoo’s eyes widen and Jaehyun’s eyebrows pop up in an impressed look.

“No wonder he feels so warm,” Lucas says, standing beside Donghyuck. His eyes flick to Mark. “So you’re both gonna be giving off heat?” He turns to the others. “Guys, we’re gonna have to crank up the A.C.”

Jungwoo giggles under his breath.

“For real,” Jaehyun says as he stands up. “Good thing none of us are too sensitive to heat. My essence is stone, Lucas’ is metal—“

“So lame, I don’t even glow,” Lucas mumbles.

“—And Jungwoo’s is air.”

Donghyuck nods in acknowledgement.

“Well, Sun Essence,” Jaehyun says, “Welcome to our band practice. Take a seat.” He gestures to the couch that Jungwoo is perched on and Donghyuck obliges.

“The committee said they’re giving us enough time for three songs,” Jaehyun addresses his bandmates. “We’re trying to decide between _Limitless_ , _Good Thing_ , _Mad City_ , _Summer 127_ , _Whiplash_ and _Heartbreaker_.”

Donghyuck just blinks at him.

“He doesn’t know what any of them sound like, obviously,” Jungwoo interjects. “We have to play them for him.”

Donghyuck’s expression switches to convey excitement instantly. He settles into the couch with a grin. “Impress me.”

Mark’s stomach tightens. He’s played these songs hundreds of times but now _Donghyuck_ is in front of him, eyes right on him. Those brown eyes make all his confidence fly out the window and he suddenly wishes he could hide.

Jeno groans. “Six whole songs?”

Jaehyun nods, grabbing a half-empty water bottle to use as a mic. “Yes, Jeno. It’s good practice.”

Jeno, always one to listen to the leader, can’t do anything but make sure his bass is plugged in and ready to play.

Mark realizes that he should do the same. He strides over to his spot beside Jaehyun, where his guitar (his most treasured possession) is propped up waiting for him right where he’d left it last practice.

Jaehyun tells them that they’ll do _Good Thing_ first and they all fall into place, Jeno starting the song off with his bass.

Mark looks straight ahead at Jaehyun’s off-white wall, trying his best to forget that Donghyuck is looking over the couch at them eagerly. His muscle memory kicks in and he plays his instrument without a hitch. He’s glad that this song is mostly vocal, Jaehyun and Jungwoo singing most of it. When he does have to rap, though, he makes sure Donghyuck isn’t even in his peripheral vision.

He only relaxes when the song is over and Donghyuck claps loudly. “Whoa, that song is awesome! You guys wrote that?”

Jaehyun nods. “Yep, with some help from our friend Taeyong.”

Mark finally looks over to see Donghyuck gaping at them. “I gotta admit, I didn’t expect you to be _that_ good,” Donghyuck comments. Lucas gasps dramatically. “You’re, like, professional level. Are you all studying music?”

“Yep,” Jaehyun replies. “Jungwoo and I are vocal majors. Lucas majors in dance performance.”

“Ah, you’re my _sunbaenims_ ,” Donghyuck addresses them formally, realizing that they’re his seniors in their department. “I’m a vocal major too.”

“How old are you?” Jaehyun asks.

“I’m a 00 liner.”

“Ah, you’re Jeno’s age! Our _maknae_!” Jungwoo remarks. “I assumed you were Mark’s age.”

Mark interjects, “He speaks to me as if we’re the same age.”

Donghyuck grins slyly. “Only because you don’t mind.”

“Mark rarely gets mad,” Lucas laughs.

“You can call us _‘hyung’_ ,” Jaehyun says. “Since you’re a friend of Mark’s, you’re our friend too.”

Donghyuck smiles warmly. “Okay, _Hyung_.”

“Hey!” Lucas yells. “His aura just got brighter! Whoaaaaaa!” The boy gapes at Donghyuck.

Mark feels relieved that he’s not the only one that notices these details about Donghyuck.

Jungwoo also awes. “Whoa, so this really is what a Sun essence is like. I’ve never met one before.”

“ _Oh_!” Jaehyun suddenly exclaims. “ _You’re_ the freshman Sun essence in our department! I’ve heard people talk about you.” He turns to his bandmate. “Jungwoo, remember when Seokmin was telling us about him?”

Jungwoo blinks himself into realization. “Oh, right!”

Donghyuck looks slightly surprised. “Good things, I hope.”

“Of course, people were just talking about you because Sun essences are so rare,” Jaehyun reassures him. “They’re just curious about you.”

Donghyuck nods. “Okay, seems like I’m popular.”

_You haven’t even seen him bend the sunlight_ , Mark thinks.

“He can do _what_?” Lucas yells.

That’s when Mark realizes he spoke aloud. He startles. “Oh, um, yeah—“

“Do it!” Lucas instructs.

Donghyuck glances at Mark like _what’d you say that for?_ before spotting the window. He holds out his hand and more sunlight begins to stream through the crack in the blinds, attracted to Donghyuck’s palm.

“Holy shit!” Lucas exclaims.

Jungwoo’s jaw has dropped and Jaehyun is blinking in disbelief.

Donghyuck drops his hand and his aura pulses a bit brighter and the room gets warmer before reverting to its original state.

Mark squints. He’s never noticed _that_ before.

Donghyuck smiles shyly. “Just releasing the energy.”

“Now I know why Sun essences are so rare,” Jaehyun says. “Cus that’s _too freaking awesome_.”

Donghyuck shakes his head and waves his hands in front of him. “No, no, enough about me. Continue practicing.”

“Fire essences have such cool tricks, it’s not fair,” Lucas says. “Mark gets to do that fire thing, Donghyuck gets to hold sunlight and what do I get? Being able to sense metals. There’s metal literally everywhere! This sucks.” He pouts.

Donghyuck blinks at Mark. “What does Mark get to do?”

Mark bites his lip. The beans have been spilled.

“You’ve never seen him do it?” Jungwoo asks.

Donghyuck slowly shakes his head while looking at Mark inquisitively. “No... whatever _it_ is.”

“He harnesses it like– uses it– I don’t know to explain. Mark, explain,” Jungwoo instructs.

Mark sighs. “I–“

“Wait, let’s show him first,” Jeno perks up. “Mark always does it when we do _Mad City_ so let’s do that now.”

Mark shoots a glare at Jeno and gets a mischievous smile in return.

Jaehyun chuckles, knowing Mark would be annoyed by the sudden spotlight. “Okay, let’s do _Mad City_ for Donghyuck.”

Mark wants to call a timeout, he wasn’t ready for this.

No one opposes, Donghyuck is as curious as ever, and the song starts.

He has no choice but to use his wildfire for the one thing it’s good for—bringing out his confidence, swag, power and passion. Exactly what he needs for this song.

Mark focuses on the ever-present ball of energy in his gut and drags it up to fill his chest, awakening it. His Wildfire responds immediately, taking advantage of the opportunity to rage. If anyone was touching him, they’d feel his temperature rise as his fire unravels and shoots out, the vibration that comes with it becoming more frantic as it spreads. It rampages Mark’s body, burning away his insecurities, and turns him into the performer he needs to be.

He lets the fire fuel him as the song progresses, his mouth running faster than he’d ever speak and his fingers dancing along his guitar. His eyes blaze with intensity and charisma and a cocky expression appears.

He doesn’t even notice the time passing, doesn’t notice Donghyuck’s jaw drop and the look on his face change. The song finishes and leaves him breathless, his insides hot as his fire tries to take over.

The thing about being wildfire is that it’s always trying to burn him out if given the chance.

Mark latches down on it quickly, closing his eyes and breathing it out before it can take a life of its own. He concentrates on sending it back to the pit of his stomach, restraining the energy, and when he’s satisfied with the dull humming state it settles into, he opens his eyes.

Jeno’s in front of him handing him a bottle of water. He takes it gratefully as Jeno smirks and glances to the side. Mark doesn’t register it as a signal so Jeno does it again, nudging his head this time. Mark jumpstarts, following his gaze, and finds Donghyuck frowning at him like he’s trying to figure something out.

Mark doesn’t know how to interpret it but he looks right back at his crush, a remnant of his fire converting into confidence and pushing a side of his mouth up in a smirk of his own.

Donghyuck’s mouth drops open a bit and anyone else looking at him would’ve thought it was natural but Mark allows himself to think that he caused it. His smirk grows into a smile and Jeno nudges him. “Good job, bro.”

Mark is too thrilled at the idea of Donghyuck being impressed with him. Finally, he feels like he did something right in front of the radiant boy.

Lucas doesn’t notice the interaction at all. “See? Whatever the heck you’d call that, he can do that. He does it during _Whiplash_ too.”

“Ooooh,” Jeno grins. “We have to do _Whiplash_.”

_Damn it_. Mark puts down the bottle of water. “I stopped it already, I need a break,” he says.

Jeno leans back. “Fine, fine.”

With Jaehyun’s permission, they take a five-minute break before performing _Whiplash_. Mark decides that he’ll use his fire for the rest of their session anyway.

With it, he lets himself glance at Donghyuck throughout the song, his newfound confidence rising. Donghyuck doesn’t take his eyes off of him and he seems to get more and more confused the more Mark raps until he’s glaring at Mark by the end of the three remaining songs. Mark doesn’t know how to feel about that but he doesn’t think that glaring is good. His fire doesn’t allow his doubt to creep back in, though, keeping him running almost like adrenaline.

When they’re done, Lucas yells, “Woo! What do you think, Donghyuck?”

Donghyuck’s gaze swings to Lucas before returning to Mark. “I want to know what the heck was _that_.” He stands up and points an accusing finger at Mark. “You can _control_ your _fire_?”

With Donghyuck’s eyes so set on him, Mark can’t _not_ answer. “Yes,” he says in a small voice, “and no.” His fire buzzes loudly in his head. “Um, can you give me a second?” He turns around so Donghyuck can’t see him screw up his face as he forces his wildfire to shrink back to it’s normal, unhelpful state.

The other boys begin glancing between Mark and Donghyuck with interest.

Mark turns back around to find Donghyuck squinting at him accusingly. “So why can you control it here but not when you’re having a burn-up?”

Mark is lucky he has an answer because he’s pondered this himself several times. “I think it’s because I _let_ it flare up when I perform. When I have a burn-up, it rages on it’s own.” Donghyuck still looks confused. “It’s like a dog,” Mark says. “When you take it out for a walk, you’re prepared for that so you put a leash on it and you can carry it back home when you’re ready. But when it runs outside on its own, you have no control over it and you don’t know when it’s coming back.”

Donghyuck takes a moment to process that analogy. Jeno offers his friend some support by nodding.

The youngest boy eventually huffs. “I guess that makes some sense.”

Mark grins, happy to be making sense. “To be honest, sometimes it doesn’t work, and it continues burning,” he admits. “I just get lucky sometimes.”

Donghyuck shrugs. “You seem to be pretty good at it. Also,” —suddenly he steps towards Mark to shove him in the shoulder— “really good at _rapping_. I had no idea!”

Mark recovers from the shove quickly. “Was I supposed to tell you?”

Donghyuck flounders. “Well I— You— Yes, you should’ve! I thought you just produced music. You should’ve given me some kind of heads up that you were gonna just— _go off_ like that!”

Mark’s eyebrows fly into his hair. “What?” Donghyuck thinks he _went off_?

Lucas bursts out laughing, pointing at Mark’s astounded expression. The other boys follow with softer chuckles.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “I was just surprised, that’s all,” he says, quieter now.

Mark smiles. Apparently he holds some surprise factor.

“You’re even more talented than I thought,” Donghyuck concludes.

Mark’s cheeks flush red. “You’re super talented too.”

Donghyuck shakes his head. “Sure, I can sing, but you—“

“Oh, right, you’re a vocalist!” Lucas remembers. He raises his eyebrows in question. “Can we hear you sing?”

At the new attention, Donghyuck’s eyes widen. “Oh, um, right now?”

Mark forgets his own embarrassment. “I know for a fact that you can sing any Michael Jackson song on the spot.”

Donghyuck looks at him, alarmed. “What?”

“Last week when we were making the sign. You had a whole mini concert!” Mark exaggerates.

Donghyuck flounders. “I did _not_.”

Mark waves him off. “I know you’re not shy, Donghyuck. Go for it.” If one of them has to perform without warning, they both should.

Donghyuck sighs like he really couldn’t be bothered to fight it. “Fine, just one song.”

Mark grins. “That’s enough to do the trick.” He directs his next sentence to Jeno, who’s usually in charge of playing music when they’re together. “Play any Michael Jackson song.”

Donghyuck throws Mark a withering look and goes to stand at the center of the living room, currently functioning as center stage.

Jeno finds a song in a matter of seconds. As it starts and Donghyuck begins to bop, Mark gets excited too, because he loves to see Donghyuck in his zone like this.

Donghyuck, not to Mark’s surprise at all, absolutely kills it. He sings the song like it’s his own; like it’s made for him; like he’s meant for the spotlight. He dances a bit, too, clearly enjoying himself. Mark is mesmerized as he watches, trying to take in everything he can with a lopsided smile plastered on his face.

When the song finishes, the boys erupt in cheers and clapping. They all have something to say.

“Dude! You’re amazing!” Lucas shouts.

“I think you’re actually one of the best singers I’ve ever heard in my life!” Jungwoo remarks.

Jaehyun follows, “You’re definitely very talented.”

And Jeno chips in, “Star of the freshman vocalists.”

Donghyuck beams at them—literally, his aura expands—and his cheeks colour pink. “Stop exaggerating!”

“No, seriously,” Jaehyun stops him. “You’re insanely good.”

“The natural talent is overflowing from you,” Jungwoo says, drawing out another blush from the youngest boy.

“Encore! Encore! Encore!” Lucas starts to yell.

The rest of them seem to think that’s a good idea because they all start chorusing, “Encore! Encore! Encore!” Mark tries not to let his excitement make his voice the loudest among them.

Donghyuck gapes at them like ‘ _Seriously?’_

Jeno doesn’t wait for him to agree. Another famous Michael Jackson song starts playing in the next moment. The boys cheer and Donghyuck only acts bashful for another second before he switches back to being bold and suave.

Mark watches him perform and in the back of his head he can’t help but think how perfect Donghyuck is. He’s so radiant, his entire persona brightening as he has fun singing one of his favourite songs. He’s got so much confidence and attitude that Mark thinks he might swoon.

He thinks that anyone who gets to be around Donghyuck—especially _date_ him—is exceptionally lucky.


	3. Dusk

The next week is hectic. With the expo just a few days away, Neo City makes time to practice everyday. They eventually settle on _Limitless_ , _Whiplash_ and _Summer 127_ as their setlist to show different sides of them.

Donghyuck stops by whenever he’s free, bonding with the boys and unknowingly making Mark flustered.

Mark’s crush only grows as he sees the sunny boy more often. They’ve fallen into a rhythm of bickering a lot but it’s light-hearted and always ends in laughter. Donghyuck is quite literally his own personal sun, fitting his nickname Fullsun perfectly.

On the days Donghyuck spends with them, they walk back to campus together and Mark finds himself studying everything about Donghyuck. The way his aura shrinks as the sun sets, the way he laughs with his whole chest, the pretty moles on his cheeks and neck, his golden skin, his beautiful voice.

Mark has reached a point of no return. He _likes_ Donghyuck.

Yet, the thought of confessing never crosses his mind once.

He’s never been in a relationship, never even thought he’d find a compatible fire essence to be with. He never invested himself in romance, saving himself from getting his hopes up if he were to never have that experience. Now he doesn’t know what to do; doesn’t know the first thing to say, doesn’t want their budding friendship to be ruined.

So he settles for admiring Donghyuck and keeping his wildfire in check whenever Donghyuck grins brightly at him or gets close.

The week passes quickly and soon it’s Sunday, the day of the club expo.

Mark dresses comfortably in a light t-shirt and jeans, knowing he’ll be stuck outdoors manning the Guitar Club’s promotion booth, and walks with a denim jacket to wear in an effort to look ‘cool’ when he has to perform.

He finds his way to the club booth early, a half an hour before the expo is expected to begin at ten o’clock. He finds Jaehyun, who’s also the president of the club, there already, disgruntled at the early hour but already setting up a couple of guitars for display. Donghyuck shows up not long after, declaring himself Mark’s personal assistant for the day.

Mark isn’t sure if spending the entire day with his crush is a good thing or a bad thing.

Once the expo gets underway and Mark and Donghyuck seem to know how to greet potential members, Jaehyun takes his leave, claiming that this is a job for the _hoobaes_ but promises to find some other underclassmen from their club to help out later on.

People come and go, taking flyers and asking when the meetings are held and if they need to know how to play already.

Not even two hours in, Mark’s social capacity gets burnt out. During a lull in the bustle of curious students, he says to Donghyuck, “I’m counting you in the number of recruits I get today. Jaehyun says we need at least five and we only have two out of maybe twenty people that gave us the time of day.”

Donghyuck shrugs, eyes flittering around the school courtyard. “Fine by me. Although he _saw_ me but, whatever.” He stretches backwards. “Do we get lunch? I feel like we should get lunch.”

Mark sighs. “We’re supposed to switch out volunteers but— no one volunteered.” He reaches into his pocket for his phone. “I’ll ask Jeno if he can bring us something.”

Donghyuck hums his approval. “Jaehyun-Hyung better find replacements. You’ve got to chill out before the performance.”

“Figuratively or literally?” Mark’s lips tug up in a smile.

Donghyuck scoffs. “Both.”

Mark notices that Donghyuck’s aura is at its peak strength, stretching out around him to meet the natural sunlight beating down around them. Today is a hot day. If Mark were to get the least bit irritated, his wildfire would be happy to come out to play. Mark hopes that the night would be cool so when he performs he’ll be able to reign his fire back in easily. He hadn’t had a burn-up in the two weeks he’d gotten closer to Donghyuck. It might be too good to be true.

**{}~{}~{}**

That evening after the sun sets and the booths close up (Mark gets _six_ new recruits for the guitar club), the concert begins.

It’s sort of a university-wide talent show, students showing their skills in whatever form they can. The music department goes last because they usually have the most participants, and since Neo City is an established band of five years, they get the coveted last performance of the night.

A few minutes before they’re set to go on, Mark prepares himself. Backstage, he pulls away from his group and calls out his Wildfire. It flares up quickly and he lets it burn through his body, it’s frantic buzzing rattling at his insides. He reigns it in a bit when it starts to get loud and it gives him the charisma and energy he needs to perform as _Mark of Neo City._

Lucas calls him to get his guitar and Mark watches as a duo of senior girls saunter off the stage.

They’re up next.

He thinks– no, he _knows_ he can do this. He’ll conquer the stage and maybe he’ll impress the boy who’s becoming more and more prominent in the life.

“Let’s go!” Jeno pats him on the back and they head for the stage.

The crowd response is great. They whoop and holler when the choruses come, they cheer and clap at the end. Jaemin and Donghyuck are front row, screaming their lungs out and spreading their hyper energy to those around them.

Though he doesn’t realize it or try to, Mark looks at Donghyuck for most of the set. He only catches himself when Donghyuck stares back at him, their eyes locking.

Mark doesn’t know, but that’s when he lets go the grip he has on his wildfire.

Donghyuck smiles and cheers and Mark gets another burst of energy to finish the set, grinning back.

When the last notes of Summer 127 fade and the stage lights go out, the boys head backstage, exchanging praises for the good set. Mark swings his guitar off as he tries to reel back in his fire only to find it resisting.

_Oh no_.

Performance adrenaline fading, he can now feel his wildfire thrashing inside him chaotically, pushing out to the surface of his skin. Its buzzing gets loud in Mark’s ears as he sees himself start to glow.

Mark starts to breathe hard. _This isn’t a good place for this to happen, there are too many people here_. He drops his guitar on its case, afraid to singe it.

Jeno appears in his peripheral vision. “Mark, you’re not putting away your—“ He stops, noticing Mark’s panicked look. He goes to touch Mark’s shoulder but the older pulls away. Jeno snatches his hand back, eyes widening in realization. “Are you having a burn-up?”

Mark can only nod, focusing on trying to calm his own energy.

Jeno gets serious quickly. “Oh, damn. Um— okay— just—“ He looks around the room at all the performers packing up, oblivious to Mark’s crisis. “I’ll call Donghyuck!” Before Mark can think to object, Jeno dashes off, leaving him defenseless.

Mark backs himself into a wall, as far away from anyone else as he can get, and holds his arms close to his body in an effort to contain his heat. Jaehyun glances his way and he catches his cousin’s eye, mouths _I’m burning up_. Their leader understands quickly.

“We gotta get you out of here!” he says, approaching Mark.

Mark shakes his head. “There’s too many people, I might burn someone. We have to wait till it clears out a bit. Just make sure no one comes near me for now.”

Jaehyun looks opposed to that but he knows it’s the best decision right now so he nods and goes to tell Jungwoo and Lucas as well.

Jeno comes running in with Donghyuck not a minute later.

Their gazes lock immediately, Donghyuck looking as worried as Mark is freaking out. Donghyuck scans him, analyzing the situation, and doesn’t hesitate to grab Mark’s hands. Jeno falls back wordlessly and the other boys give them some more space.

As soon as their skin touches, Mark feels the powerful pulse of Donghyuck’s heat energy. His own fiery essence thrashes against it, a stark contrast to the calm of Donghyuck’s.

Donghyuck looks into his eyes. “I’m gonna try something. I’ve never done it before but I think— if I’ve been reading things correctly I can— okay, I can’t explain. I’m just gonna do it.”

Mark feels Donghyuck’s energy _push_ against his.

Donghyuck closes his eyes, eyebrows furrowing with concentration, and with each pulse of the sun, his focused energy imposes more on Mark’s. It reaches in from where their hands are clasped and forces Mark’s frantic energy to align with it. Mark feels the buzzing of his fire submit, calming and throbbing in time with Donghyuck’s instead.

The sensation progresses through his entire body, up his arms and down his torso and Mark watches wide-eyed as his glow disappears, temperature dropping, and in turn Donghyuck’s aura expands, a sign of his own temperature rising.

Mark feels when all of his energy is aligned with Donghyuck’s, his fire obeying the sun’s will. Donghyuck appears to feel it too because he suddenly gasps, eyes flying open, and drops his hands.

The older boy can barely process what just happened. He’s in shock, looking at Donghyuck who’s breathing hard.

The sun essence wipes his forehead. “Oh my god, I’m sweating. I don’t sweat, what the heck.”

“What the heck?” Mark shakes his head. “What the heck! What did you just _do?_ ”

Donghyuck lets out a deep breath. “Um, I think I just invented something, not gonna lie. But now I’m really tired so I’m just gonna sit down here for a second.” He points to a chair pushed into the corner before promptly falling into it.

“Oi!” Mark rushes to his side and kneels down, suddenly worried about the younger boy. “Hyuck!”

Donghyuck squints at him. “Put it away now, I don’t know how long it’ll stay like that.”

Mark’s brain, on overdrive, understands what he’s saying. He tightens down on his fire energy, wills it back to his gut and is surprised to find it listen easily, recoiling quickly and settling.

Crisis inexplicably averted, he shakes Donghyuck’s knee. “Are you okay? Do you know what you just did?”

Donghyuck drops his head back and his aura starts shrinking. Mark can only watch, dumbfounded, as it reverts to its default energy level.

Donghyuck straightens himself, blinks hard and sets his gaze on Mark. “I calmed your energy, transferred it to me and released it.” He purses his lips, looking thoughtful. “Yep, I think that’s what I did.”

Mark blinks too many times before he can answer. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Donghyuck nods assuredly, “that’s what I thought would happen and— it worked!” He smiles down at Mark.

Mark squints at him. “Okay... I will understand that eventually but are you really okay? It looked like you almost passed out.”

Donghyuck nods again. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ve just never done it before and it was a lot of energy to harness.”

“How did you know it would work?” Mark asks, curiosity building. He’s never heard of whatever just happened before. He knew that Donghyuck was powerful but this was a whole new spin on it.

“I didn’t _know_ that it would work.” Donghyuck’s dark brown eyes capture Mark’s. “But when I touch you I can feel your energy and I think I sort of did it the last time I helped you with a burn-up ‘cus we were touching then. I wasn’t _trying_ to that time, I just felt your energy calming. And I’m a safer outlet for heat energy so— that part I kind of winged, to be honest,” he chuckles.

“You _winged it_!” Mark says incredulously. “You weren’t sure what you were doing, you could’ve actually fainted!”

Donghyuck smirks, endearing still, “But I didn’t.”

Mark can’t handle this. “You’re unbelievable.”

Donghyuck shrugs. “Saved your life, didn’t I?”

“That’s a bit of a stretch but—“ Mark takes in the sun essence before him, glowing brightly and smirking smugly. “Thank you.”

Donghyuck’s hand shifts to cover his and their energies meet again but without any push for dominance. “No problem. A Sun essence has to be there for his loyal Fire essence subjects.” A side of his mouth tugs upward in a devilish grin and Mark can’t help but laugh.

When their laughter dies they find themselves rather close, Donghyuck leaning further down than before.

Mark is awestruck, so close to admire Donghyuck’s pretty eyes and golden skin and fluffy hair and the moles on his cheeks that seem to have been tastefully placed and—

Donghyuck leans even closer and when Mark notices his eyes flick down to his lips before locking on his own again, his heart jumps in his chest and his fire awakens all at once. Though spreading through his body quickly, it seems that Donghyuck’s effect hasn’t worn off because it doesn’t threaten to burn up uncontrolled.

Mark is so glad that he doesn’t have to worry about that because then Donghyuck’s lips meet his and he can’t _think_.

The way that he can sense Donghyuck’s energy through his lips is a bit of a shocker and he can barely come to terms with the fact that he’s _kissing_ someone; kissing _Donghyuck_.

In the past, Mark had never thought seriously about kissing anyone. He couldn’t even _touch_ anyone he wasn’t compatible with so kissing seemed like something he would never be privy to. But then Donghyuck came beaming into his life, and Mark would be lying if he said he’d never daydreamed about the possibilities.

Now that it’s happening, he has no idea what to do.

His eyes are screwed shut and he’s so hyperaware of how there’s no space between them, his heart banging loudly in his chest and his breathing shallow. He tries what he thinks might be kissing back and then Donghyuck gently puts his hand on his neck so maybe he did something right.

Donghyuck’s energy pulses from his palm too. Mark is very in tune with it now, their skin in contact in at least three places. He knows his own Fire is responding to his emotions, flaring out the more Donghyuck kisses him and Mark seems to get a reaction out of the other boy too because now his energy is thrumming harder and quicker in a way Mark has never felt it before so he pulls back, stunned on all levels.

The two boys stare at each other, mouths hanging open trying to find words to say.

Mark, surprisingly, finds some words first. “I think we’re going to simultaneously combust.”

Donghyuck laughs hard at that, hands coming up to hide his flushed face. Mark notices that his aura is a bit wider. “Yeah, um, we should stop, uh—“ Suddenly his eyes widen and he looks around.

Mark realizes the cause of his alarm. _The guys_. He stands up immediately to see for himself.

To the fire essences great relief, the other band members are nowhere in sight. They both breathe a sigh of relief.

Then they look at each other, all shy smiles and buzzing energies.

Donghyuck giggles, “Oh my god, you’re as red as wildfire.”

**{}~{}~{}**

The next morning, Mark wakes up and he can’t contain it. He blurts, “I think I have a boyfriend.”

Jeno, who had been getting dressed, freezes with his arm mid-sleeve. “Say what now?”

Mark sits up, a grin growing on his face. “I think Donghyuck is my boyfriend now?” He giggles. “Oh my god, that’s weird to say, I never thought I’d say that!”

Jeno tugs on his jersey and looks at his roommate skeptically. “I knew you were up to some funny business last night but what exactly happened?”

When Donghyuck and Mark left the dressing rooms the night before, a text from Jaehyun revealed that the rest of the band plus Jaemin had decided to give the couple some space after Donghyuck did that ‘weird sun thing and the place got super hot.’ He claims to have waited for them for a while before they went ahead to some after-party.

Not the party type, Mark didn’t want to go and Donghyuck said he wanted to stay with him so they’d taken a slow giggle-filled walk to a nearby pizza place where they had dinner. They then walked back to campus holding hands, both of them fighting off spontaneous combustion.

Mark has never been more grateful to his friends for ditching him.

When he’d returned to the dorm, Jeno was already asleep.

He relays to his roommate the gist of what happened.

“Oh my god, you have a boyfriend!” Jeno exclaims at the end of the story. He shoves Mark playfully. “ _Dude_!”

Mark laughs, a giddy feeling taking him over. “I know!”

He wonders when is the next time he can see Donghyuck. Then he remembers that it’s Monday and he has a class to get to in approximately fifty minutes. He dashes out of bed.

Luckily for Mark, Donghyuck isn’t far and he wants to see Mark just as much as the former wants to see him.

They meet up after their classes for dinner: cheap convenience store ramen.

They decide to eat in Mark’s room because it’s getting cold outside as it nears winter and even though they’re Fire essences, it’s uncomfortable and they’d have to generate their own heat.

They sit on the floor cozily, crosslegged with their knees touching.

“I have to get used to feeling your energy so much,” Mark says. _Because they’re touching so much now_. “It’s very loud, did you know that?”

Donghyuck scoffs. “No, I didn’t. Yours is very hyper, did you know that? Can’t help but calm it down.” He slurps up some ramen.

Mark indeed already knows all of this. At that very moment, Donghyuck’s energy is resonating with his own from their contact at the knees.

“You’re not even trying to, it’s doing that on its own isn’t it?” Mark guesses.

Donghyuck’s eyebrows quirk up. “That is correct.” He speaks into his ramen. “Should’ve tried to initiate skinship ages ago.”

Mark swallows too quickly and ends up coughing.

“Okay, never mind,” Donghyuck’s eyes sparkle with amusement. “You might’ve actually combusted.”

Mark can’t even deny that. “Shut up.”

Donghyuck chuckles victoriously.

“I wouldn’t get too cocky with the way you got bothered yesterday too.” Mark sends the other boy a pointed look. Donghyuck’s energy was just as erratic when they were kissing.

Donghyuck avoids eye contact. “Shut up.”

A win for Mark! He smiles into his ramen.

“I also think this means that you confessed to me.”

Donghyuck swallows. “What do you mean?”

“ _You_ kissed _me_ ,” Mark says. He finishes his ramen to pretend he doesn’t notice Donghyuck’s hard gaze. “Isn’t that basically a confession?”

Donghyuck stutters for words. “That’s— I— Hey, look at you all glad that you didn’t have to confess!” Despite himself being on the receiving end, Mark thinks Donghyuck’s short temper is cute. “I only did it ‘cus Jaemin told me you liked me and I knew you wouldn’t do it first.”

Hold on.

“Jaemin told you _what_?” Mark shrills, ramen pushed to the side.

Donghyuck’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s revealed. “Whoops.” He purses his lips. “Jeno told him that you like me but you wouldn’t make the first move.”

“Because I didn’t know if you liked me back!” Mark defends himself quickly. “That’s valid!” He’s gonna _end_ Jeno.

Donghyuck smiles. He sets his own ramen aside. “Yes, yes, it is. I asked Jaemin if Jeno had said anything about you liking someone because you told me _to my face_ that you had a crush and didn’t even have the _decency_ to hint that it was me,” He glares at Mark. “I thought you liked someone else.”

Mark’s jaw drops. “Well— I—“ Mark ducks his head bashfully. “That was me _trying_ to hint that it was you.”

Donghyuck _tsks_ and shakes his head. “You’re absolutely hopeless, what am I gonna do with you? I don’t even know how you didn’t notice that I like you too.”

Now _there’s_ the actual confession.

Mark pauses, brain and emotions all in shambles. This is _real_. Donghyuck _likes_ him. They’re compatible and they can have a _real_ relationship.

Mark runs his hands through his hair and pushes himself out of his comfort zone. “It’s very unfair that they told you what I should’ve said to you.”

Donghyuck is stunned by the sudden seriousness of Mark’s tone.

“I like you, Hyuck.” Mark unconsciously wrings his hands from nervousness in his lap. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

Donghyuck beams, his aura pulsing outwards, but he tries to play it cool.

“I like how you call me ‘Hyuck’ even though I never told you you could.” A smile plays at his lips while Mark’s mouth drops open, face falling. “Oh my god, I’m kidding! No, don’t be sad!” He leans forward to hold Mark’s face in his hands and yes—Mark definitely needs to learn to ignore Donghyuck’s persistent energy— “Well, I'm actually not kidding, I _do_ like when you call me ‘Hyuck’ but what I mean to say is: I like you too and, yes, I’ll be your boyfriend.”

Mark’s face breaks out in a grin and his arms reach out to hug Donghyuck’s waist.

“Only if you call me ‘Hyuck’.” Donghyuck is as mischievous as ever.

Mark is a sucker for his antics. “Okay, Hyuck, that’s no problem.”

“I’m telling everyone else that they can’t call me that.”

Mark pulls his new boyfriend closer. “Oh, so you’re _my_ Hyuck?” The Sun essence falls into Mark’s lap.

Donghyuck can only mutter, “Yes,” before they seal the deal with a kiss, their energies pushing and pulling and possibly scorching the floor beneath them in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this! Kudos and comments are appreciated, let me know what you think!


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